Meanings
plural preformations · alternative praeformation
- countableuncountablePrior formation.
- countablehistoricaluncountablebiologyThe theory that organisms are fully developed in the form of an egg or seed, and just increase in size (as opposed to epigenesis).
Preformation, as even Aristotle spotted, merely postpones the problem, for how did the homunculus get its shape?
1999, Matt Ridley, Genome, Harper Perennial, published 2004, page 174
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna theory (popular in the 18th century and now discredited) that an individual develops by simple enlargement of a tiny fully formed organism (a homunculus) that exists in the germ cell
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*per-
- Proto-Indo-European*preh₂-
- Proto-Indo-European*préh₂i?
- Proto-Italic*prai
- Proto-Italic*prai-
- Latinprae-
- Middle Englishpre-
- Englishpre-
- Englishformation
- Englishpreformation
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
preformation. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preformation
“preformation.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preformation. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “preformation,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/preformation.
Source: preformation on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.